Vacuum gate valves are used in a variety of applications. In certain of these applications, high speed, high reliability, long life and low particulate generation are of the utmost importance. This is particularly true in processing systems for semiconductor wafers wherein vacuum gate valves are employed to provide isolation between loadlocks and process chambers and betweeen different process chambers within the processing system. Recent trends in semiconductor processing include systems with a large number of vacuum processing modules interconnected by gate valves. See, for example, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 856,738 entitled "Modular Semiconductor Wafer Transport and Processing System", assigned to the assignee of the present invention. As these wafer processing systems become more complex and incorporate more vacuum gate valves, the reliability, long life and low particulate generation of the valve assumes greater importance since failure of a single valve may cause downtime for the entire system and excessive particulates generated by a particular valve may tend to contaminate the entire system.
It is a general object of the present invention to provide a new and improved vacuum gate valve providing long life with low particulate generation.